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A Naval Captain and expert in the field of neurological disorders spoke this afternoon during Missouri State University's Public Affairs Conference.
KSMU's Matt Petcoff has the story...
As a captain in the United States Navy with more than 30 years of active duty service, Peter Bertrand understands the dangers of military life.
And, as a Senior Professor at the Naval Postgraduate Dental School, Bertrand deals with individuals suffering from head and brain injuries on a daily basis.
He says research is now showing our brains are even more fragile than doctors first thought.
Before entering the navy, recruits are given standardized tests to better understand their psychological background.
Based on the answers they give, Bertrand says as many as 55 percent of naval recruits may have experienced abuse sometime in their lives.
And, he says this creates a problem for those individuals during their time of service.
Bertrand says further understanding how our brains deal with stress is the key to better treating individuals with problems like post-traumatic stress disorder, or P-T-S-D.
He says, too often are individuals with psychological problems are not given the right kind of care.
And, Bertrand says some of his motivation for speaking this week deals with the difficulty of treating individuals dealing with neurological disorders.
Bertrand says it's hard to determine what exactly needs to be done to help individuals suffering from disorders like P-T-S-D.
But, he says sufferers often benefit from immersion back into society.
